Graduation season kicks into high gear this week throughout Southwest County, as more than two dozen local high schools are preparing to usher their exiting seniors into the workforce and higher-education endeavors.

Menifee-based Santa Rosa Academy held a ceremony Friday evening at La Paloma Park for the 41 students in its fifth graduating class -- a ceremony marked by an address from Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez -- and thousands more will receive their diplomas in the coming weeks at locales ranging from campus football fields and gymnasiums to Pechanga Resort’s Grand Ballroom to The Diamond stadium.

End-of-the-year banquets and awards presentations are already under way, as are plans for grad night celebrations that will send seniors all across Southern California, from Disneyland to Six Flags Magic Mountain to Temecula Valley High School’s bash on a cruise line in San Diego.

The fun and games will last well into the early morning hours at those parties -- as they should, said Perris Union Superintendent Jonathan Greenberg.

However, the graduation ceremonies that precede those celebrations are serious business in Greenberg’s district, where he has put a moratorium on some traditional antics -- such as decorating caps and wearing flowers -- since his arrival in 2007 to maintain the formality of the rite of passage.

That’s one reason why Perris Union -- which oversees Heritage and Paloma Valley high schools in Menifee -- and its charter schools pride themselves on footing the $29,000 bill to ship commemorative DVDs to its graduates.

“We take it seriously,” Greenberg said. “I tell my seniors to treat it like a wedding ceremony. It’s not the reception.”

No, it’s about honoring academic achievements, Greenberg said, much like a new award that the Lake Elsinore Unified School District is bestowing upon more than 50 students who have demonstrated a mastery of two or more languages.

For those students, the new State Seal of Biliteracy honor is more than an embossed seal on their diploma and a medal to wear with their caps and gowns. It’s potentially a leg up in the lives they’ll pursue after walking across the stage at The Diamond, the Lake Elsinore Storm’s 7,800-seat stadium.

“One of our commitments is to produce global citizens and make sure our students are going to be competitive across the world,” Assistant Superintendent Alain Guevara said. “… Having kids who are proficient in two or three languages is going to open more doors for anyone in the work place. We’re excited about this.”

Lake Elsinore Unified’s alternative education schools are equally jazzed to hold their graduations at The Diamond for the first time, pushing the district’s bill north of $42,000 -- not including traffic control costs, according to spokesman Mark Dennis -- for two days of ceremonies at the Minor League Baseball complex.

Instead of hosting graduations at those alternative schools’ quads and courtyards, they will combine their commencements in a 2 p.m. ceremony on Wednesday at The Diamond -- five hours before Temescal Canyon High School stages its graduation there. The next day, The Diamond will host Elsinore and Lakeside high schools’ ceremonies.

“I think the kids are very excited,” said Amy Campbell, the principal at Ortega High School, a continuation school. “With their graduation at The Diamond, they’re thinking their graduation is as important as anyone else’s -- because it is. These kids fought hard to get here and it wasn’t easy for any of them.”